


5 Times Don Is There For Judy + 1 Time He Couldn't Be

by goldenkc



Category: Lost in Space (TV 2018)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst, F/M, Feels, Fluff, Whatever just read it, he becomes the rock she didn't know she needed, i mean these could have just been off screen scenes, kinda canon compliant but a little deviant, ma girl jude has got a lot of feelings and don helps her through them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-18 19:14:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14858652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldenkc/pseuds/goldenkc
Summary: * netflix's lost in space season one spoilers *don finds himself comforting judy in whatever way he can whenever he can, but he won't always be there





	5 Times Don Is There For Judy + 1 Time He Couldn't Be

**Author's Note:**

> we are severely lacking fics for this couple, so i wrote one. enjoy

i.

Don walks around the Jupiter 2 looking for something to do. People are focusing on the big light tower, and he’s been told thrice now that they don’t need a mechanic.

He finds himself nearing the garage when he hears heavy panting—and not the fun kind. He peaks through the window and sees Judy Robinson hunched over with her hands on her knees. Then she lifts herself up, resting her back against the wall, fanning her face with her hand.

Don doesn’t think—he just waves open the door and says, “Hey Doc, can you check out Debbie? She's not clucking right.”

Judy turns around for a second, wiping at her eyes when she says, “I'm a doctor for _people_ , not farm animals, West.”

“Just… please.” He doesn’t know how to say ‘this isn’t for me, I’m just trying to help you.’ 

Judy faces him and sighs, waving forward, silently telling him to take her to the chicken. 

She does as best an examination she can, given her very limited knowledge on animals. She feels around the chicken’s throat, looking in the mouth. Don watches her as she does so with such care and gentleness.

Judy finally shrugs, giving up. “She looks fine. Nothing caught in her throat, no lumps around the neck—she seems perfectly healthy.” 

Just then, Debbie gives out a loud cluck. Don gives Judy a tight-lipped smile, the kind that reminded her of Will whenever he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“And she _sounds_ perfectly healthy,” she says, crossing her arms with an accusatory look.

“Okay, fine,” he says dejectedly. “Maybe I just wanted to distract you.”

Judy furrows her brows, asking, “From?”

“The obvious panic attack you were having back there,” Don says, pointing his thumb in the general area of the garage.

She swallows, kicking herself for letting someone see her like that. “I'm fine.”

He nods slowly. “Yeah, you say that a lot.”

“I _am_ ,” she says more sternly, hating how quickly this man had gotten to know her.

“Okay, well, when you wanna stop pretending to be, I'm here. I've been told I'm a great listener.”

She raises an eyebrow at that. “By who? Debbie?”

Don chuckles, pointing a finger jokingly at her. “You're funny, Doc.” Judy rolls her eyes at the smuggler, turning on her heel and walking out the door. “Thanks for the check-up!” he calls after her.

He rests his forearms on the table in front of his adopted chicken, shaking his head.

“Couldn’t have played sick or something?”

* * *

ii.

Don finds himself seeking Judy out more and more. It's like a pull to her that he can't avoid. He sees her by the Chariot, a map flattened out on the hood of the vehicle.

“Hey there, Princess. Busy?”

“Always,” she says, not looking up from her map.

“What is it today?” he asks, looking at the trail she’s making.

“I need some equipment from the Watanabe ship, Hiroki said it would be there, I'm just trying to plot the best course.”

“Oh, allow me,” he says, taking the map from her.

Judy gapes at him, “But I was—”

“Please, you focus on saving people's lives, I'll focus on car related things.”

Judy rolls her eyes, nodding as she says, “It's not every day a badass princess gives you a hand.”

Don scoffs, opening the passenger door for her. “Just get in the car, Robinson.” 

They’re about five minutes in when Don notices Judy picking at her finger nails—a sign he’s learned means that she’s stressed about something.

“You okay?” he asks needlessly, already knowing the answer.

“Yeah, just worried about things—the usual,” she dismissively.

“Like what? We've got a half hour drive ahead of us, and unless you'd like me to take over the stereo again—”

“No, that's fine!” she says as she grabs his hand before he can reach for the speaker system. Their stare holds another second, then Judy clears her throat and sits back in her seat.

Don shakes his head softly as he rids himself of the image of her face looking like _that_ at him. “Alright then, speak.”

“It's just a lot of pressure,” she replies flippantly, not wanting to give in. She’d grown used to keeping things bottled up, rarely ever being asked what was really wrong with her.

But Don is apparently not giving up, and Judy can’t help admiring that. “What is?” he presses.

“Everything,” she says with a sigh. Don gives her a look that tells her to continue, and she does just that. “People look down on me because I'm not as experienced as if I haven't gotten the same training all the other medics have. People expect me to always do well, whether it be tests, or medicine, or just living my life—which by the way I never get a chance to because since I was an infant, I've been raised as a prodigy.” 

She keeps talking, quicker even, and Don fights the urge to smile at what Judy is like when she stops giving a shit. 

“And as much as I love the medical field, I'm only eighteen, I'm almost nineteen, and I haven't even _lived_ yet. I graduated high school early, didn't get to go to prom, studied for too many exams to have time to find friends. My life is just a lot of pressure all the time, and I'd love to take a moment to just stop and _breathe_.”

Don realizes she’s done and says a simple, “Wow.”

“What?”

“I said _speak_ , not _monologue_.”

Judy scoffs at that, giving out a chuckle. “You're an ass sometimes, you know that?”

“So I've been told.” It made her laugh, so he didn’t care.

Then Don hits the brakes quickly as he comes to a clearing in the woods. It’s around sunset, and it’s a gorgeous colour. He’s been here for a while, and he’s just noticing that he’s never taken a moment to enjoy it. And he’s guessing that Judy hasn’t either.

“Why are we stopping?” she asks predictably. 

“Get out.”

“Excuse me?”

“Out,” he says more sternly, pointing at her door.

“What are we doing?” she asks, walking around the truck to stand beside him.

“You ask too many questions,” he says vaguely. Then he puts his hands on her shoulders, which stuns her to silence. “Stop. Breathe.”

Judy doesn’t see the point in this. They’re losing daylight, and they still haven’t reached the other Jupiter yet. She decides to get this over with quickly, so she lets out a hurried breath.

“Deeper, don't hold out on me now,” he demands with a smirk. “Can't have our best doctor too stressed to help anyone.” She follows his instructions, and he nods approvingly before he widens his arms to their surroundings, telling her to take it all in.

Judy lets out another breath, feeling lighter as she stares out at the orange horizon. She tilts her head, a small smile appearing on her face as she says, “Y’know, even though we're probably gonna die here, it's pretty beautiful.”

“Yeah… It is,” Don replied softly, not even bothering with the view. He’s looking at _her_.

* * *

iii.

It takes a while, but Judy eventually opens up to Don what she’s so scared of. 

She tells him about how she didn’t want Will to be the one to search their sunken Jupiter for the battery because she knew how scared he was. She tells him about swimming until she reached the far door, finding the battery in the garage, swimming back out the long way as the ice started to freeze.

It was at this point in the story that Don shifts closer because he realizes her voice is growing quieter, and her breathing is getting shallow. He contemplates putting a hand on her back but decides against it.

Judy explains that the ice froze faster than she could swim with the battery holding her down, and even when she finally dropped it, she didn’t make it to the surface in time.

She had maybe six hours of oxygen in her tank—it was enough to formulate a couple plans. Will and John had gone off in search of magnesium, Maureen was passed out from her leg wound, Penny was reading _Moby Dick_ aloud, and Judy was stuck.

They tried the burning metal, they tried scooping out water, they tried everything until the last minute. That’s when Judy says she knew she wouldn’t make it out.

“It was terrifying. The seconds were ticking down, the rain started pouring. I couldn't move. I was just paralyzed, waiting for the air to run out and be suffocated,” she says, shaking her head, trying to remind herself she’s not still there.

Don clears his throat, carefully asking, “And these panic attacks?”

“I keep reliving it. Seeing and feeling myself stuck in that ice again.”

He nods, understanding because he’s seen countless people with the same symptoms. “PTSD.”

Judy blinks back the tears, sitting up straighter as she disagrees. “It's not…” she trails off because she’s now questioning it.

“You're a doctor, Robinson,” he reasons, lightly placing his hand on her forearm. “Don't lie to yourself.”

In the short time they’d known each other, Judy became very easy for Don to read, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

* * *

iv.

Don sneaks up behind Judy when she’s doing an inventory of the food. “Come with me,” he demands with a whisper, startling her nonetheless.

When she catches her breath again, she holds tightly to her clipboard, asking “Why?”

“Just come with me. Don't ask so many questions.”

She scoffs at his spontaneity, gesturing to the racks behind her as she says, “I have work to do.”

“And it can wait,” he decides for her, placing her clipboard on the nearest surface. He grabs her hand, making her follow behind as he took them outside. 

Those purple lights in the sky are back, and he remembers how her face light up the first time she told him about them. They were like some kind of aurora that she said he just _has_ to see in person. 

So when they showed up again, he knew she’d want to see them again, no matter how much work she had to do.

“Look,” he says, pointing up. She gasps when she sees it all. “Figured you earned a nice distraction.”

She smiles gratefully at him. “Thank you, Don.”

“You're welcome, Judy.”

“Hey, you said my name.” She thinks that might only be the second time he ever has. Not that she minds the nicknames.

Don furrows his brows for a second, a smile still on his face. “And?”

Judy smirks at this, proudly stating, “I think I'm warming up to you.”

He chuckles, letting out a soft hum. “Sure.”

“Keep this up, you'll fall in love with me,” she says with a wink, looking back up at the sky.

He knows she can’t hear him when he whispers, “I just might.”

* * *

v.

Don is sitting on Judy’s bed, in her room where he’d snuck off to before his big and potentially suicidal mission. He sighs, looking down at his helmet, at his reflection in the glass. 

As if reading his mind, Judy walks up, knocking on her own bedroom door. 

“You alright?” Don asks before Judy gets a chance to say anything. 

She chuckles lightly, astonished that even in the face of possible danger, he’s still worried about her. “Shouldn't I be asking you that? You're the one about to risk your life for all of us.”

Don waves his hand as though it’s nothing. “I'll be fine.”

Judy sits directly beside him, their shoulders and knees brushing against each other. “I think you act a lot tougher than you are.”

“I thought you were a _medical_ doctor, stay outta my head,” he warns, narrowing his eyes even though there’s no real heat behind the words.

She doesn’t want to focus on herself right now. So she tilts her head ever so slightly. “Just talk to me.”

Don shakes his head at Judy’s inquisitive look. But she knows she’s got him as he sighs deeply. 

“Her name was Tam,” he begins. “She died when we crashed here. Really my only friend. Parents didn't want me, high school friends lost touch--not that I made many—but after I met Tam in college, she always stuck around.”

Judy puts her hands on Don’s shoulders like he did to her all those days ago. “You're gonna do great out there,” she tells him confidently. “Do it for Tam, for Debbie.”

He blinks, swallowing his pride when he says, “I'm doing this for _you_ , you know?”

“What?” Judy’s voice falters, her arms dropping back to her sides.

“I wouldn't be walking in there if it weren't for you.”

She shakes her head, looking down. “Don't say that, please.”

“Why? Because I could die?” he asks incredulously. “It's a very real possibility, might as well acknowledge it—”

Then Judy does something she didn’t think she’d have the courage to. She grabs each side of his face, and pulls him toward her, moulding their lips together. “Don't die,” she murmurs against his lips.

She opens her eyes to see him staring at her, a sincerity in his eyes she’d never seen before. “I'll try,” he whispers back.

“You better come back,” she says, hearing her voice quiver but suddenly not caring how vulnerable she sounds around him.

“To you, Princess? You can bet on it.”

* * *

vi.

Judy’s heart stops when that ship blows up in the sky. She literally feels the air being sucked out of her lungs. All she can do is stare. She barely feels her sister's hand in hers, barely feels the tears fall down her cheeks, barely feels anything.

It sinks in—her father and Don are dead, and soon everyone else will follow because they are all genuinely stuck on this planet now.

Eventually, she pulls away from Penny, who mutters something about finding their mom. Judy walks past people who quietly offer their condolences, but she doesn’t hear any of it. 

She reaches her bedroom, falling on the bed as the thought of never seen her dad or Don again. Her dad had sacrificed himself for everyone, he knew what he was getting into.

But Don… _Judy_ had convinced him to go up there, and she’d never felt so much guilt.

In a situation with grief this heavy, she’d go to Don, and he’d listen and help her laugh again. But not this time. And never again. 

* * *

[ bonus ] vii.

When they get back on board, John, Will, and Don come through the same entrance. Maureen, Penny and Judy swarm John in a group hug. Then, as Maureen gives her son a kiss on the head, Judy’s eyes land on Don, who’d stepped back to let the family reunite. 

He smiles softly at Judy, suddenly awkward and unsure what to say. He’d thought he was going to die out there, never seeing her again. 

“You didn’t forget my chicken down there, did you?” he asks, instantly regretting it as the Robinsons chuckle at him. 

Soon he’s sitting next to Will—Debbie in hand—watching Judy tend to the scar on Will’s arm. They all chat for a minute, making jokes.

“Alright, buddy. That’s the best I can do. I’m still kind of new to alien battle scars,” she announces, promising Will that he looks very badass when he asks.

Then Judy stands, looking at Don and nodding out the door subtly. He follows when she walks out and makes her way to her bedroom. As soon as the door shuts behind him, he’s about to ask what she wanted, but then he’s smacked in the chest.

“Ow! What was that?” he asks incredulously at the girl he’s realizing has tears in her eyes.

“You scared me out there,” she justifies, looking angry with her arms crossed, but he can tell that it’s just fear.

His features soften as he steps forward. “I’m sorry,” he says, swiping at a single tear under Judy’s eye. His hands land on her waist, squeezing lightly as if reassuring her that he’s here. “I’m okay,” he whispers.

“I saw you blow up,” she says with a shaky voice and a wobbling chin. “I thought I’d lost you,” she admits, looking down.

Don uses his thumb to push up Judy’s chin, resting his hand on her cheek. “I’m not that easy to get rid of, Princess,” he states, with that famous Don West smile that has her melting at the sight of.

She falls forward, her forehead landing on his shoulder and her arms snake around his torso. “You came back to me,” she sniffles, more to herself than to him.

“Told you I would,” he says, holding her tightly.

And somehow she knows everything would be okay, as long as she has him to wrap her arms around and call home.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you liked it. be sure to hit that kudos button :)


End file.
